Nutrition, the basis of the treatment of disease : the introductory address at the opening of the medical session at University College, London, October 1, 1867 / by Graily Hewitt.
- Hewitt, Graily, 1828-1893.
- Date:
- 1867
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Nutrition, the basis of the treatment of disease : the introductory address at the opening of the medical session at University College, London, October 1, 1867 / by Graily Hewitt. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
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![L 13 ] carries off in early childhood, or in the flower of their youth, so large a proportion of the community. There would seem, indeed, to be hardly any limit to the beneficial influence capable of being exerted on the human body by regulating, as experience or observation shall indicate, the character of the nutrition process. During childhood the growth is rapid, and the plasticity of the tissues is consequently greater than in adult life. Under these circum- stances, healthy tissues can, therefore, be manufac- tured with greater rapidity. The very remarkable healing power of a well-regulated and ample diet is then evinced in the most demonstrative manner. We may argue from these facts that organic changes in the tissues may be effected also, but more slowly, at a latter period of life. We may be satisfied that we have in this regulation of nutrition an instrument of great power, and that so long as life lasts we may hope by its means to effect something of a curative character, even in the worst cases. Physi- cal diagnosis has of late years attained great exact- ness, and indeed the almost perfect acquaintance it has given us in many cases with the actual condition of the heart, the lungs, the liver, and other viscera, has, I believe, in not a few instances had a tendency to invest some diseases or certain physical alterations with terrors which do not belong to them. In the](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22277985_0020.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
